Nov. 19, 2010
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Three members of the Old Dominion women's crew team, senior Jennifer Easterling (Va. Beach, Va.) and sophomores Allison Giegerich (Egg Harbor, N.J.) and Abby Voss (Alexandria, Va.), will be participating in the USRowing Identification Camp this weekend in Charlottesville.
The USRowing Identification Camps are to identify athletes throughout the United States with U-23 or Senior National Team potential. These camps offer the opportunity for athletes across the country to demonstrate their talents on the erg and potentially on the water, mix it up with other talented athletes, learn more about the national team, and meet national team coaches. This is also a chance for national team coaches to identify top athletes earlier in the year in order to effectively direct them to camps that will further their potential: Freshman Camp, Development, Pre-Elite, U-23 Selection, Senior Selection, etc.
"A lot of it based on your times on the ergs," said Easterling of her selection to the camp. "Coach Garbutt started talking about it once I got below a 19.50 on my 5K."
Easterling got her start in rowing like many of those on the collegiate level.
"I started out as a walk-on," noted Easterling, who will begin her third season rowing for Old Dominion. "I came to Old Dominion for the engineering program and answered the call to try out for the Lady Monarch rowing team."
Easterling, who had never rowed before, been on the water, or knew what an erg machine was, is now among those with a potential shot at qualifying for a national team.
"I've been working really hard towards getting better and I'm really excited about the opportunity," she noted about this weekend's camp. "A lot of it is for the recognition to see if you can row with the U-23 team. I would like to try and take it to the next level and try to be indentified on the national level with other girls and take it from there."
"I never thought I'd get that far just starting out by walking on a team," Easterling reflected.
Voss meanwhile has received her second invitation to a USRowing U-23 camp.Rowing all four years at Jeb Stuart High School, thanks in part to her brother who was coaching, Voss joined the Lady Monarchs last fall and became one of 13 rowers named First Team All-CAA following the conference championship last spring. However, her skills on the water were already noted by those around her.
"I attended a U-23 camp last fall and was invited to row with the U-23 Team this summer," said Voss, but she had to put her national team dreams on hold deciding to concentrate on her academics first.
"My coach asked me if I wanted to do it again," said Voss "and I said absolutely. I really want to show the national team coaches what I have to offer. I really want to make the national team and that's what I'm going to try and do."
For Giegerich, who has been around the sport since the age of 10 and a competitive rowers since her freshman year of high school, its her second time at a USRowing Camp after attending USRowing's Women's National Team Freshman Camp at the University of Iowa back in June.
"We worked on a lot of technical things," noted Giegerich of her last time at the USRowing camp. "I got to see a different prospective of coaching. It's always to nice to hear what others are thinking and seeing of your performance. Being around those kind of athletes and rowers was awesome."
A coxswain, who last season helped the Lady Monarchs' Freshman Novice 8 win the Head of the Hooch and the Varsity 8 advance to the Grand Final of the Occoquan Sprint, is only one of two coxswains to attend this weekend's camp.
"I'm really looking forward to furthering my career, getting recognized by national team coaches, and being able to practice with them," said Geigerich of this weekend's camp. "Its another step towards the national team. There's a lot of people who apply to this camp and want to be selected to attend. Its truly an honor."
For more information on the camp and about USRowing, click here.